Landon Hockey 5 STAGger DeMatha 3

This upset of the #1 (WaPo and MAPHL) DeMatha by a 6-3 score SHOCKED THE DMV HOCKEY WORLD. However, the victory did not surprise the 22 Bears and Coaches Erickson & Farnstrom. The play by every Landon skater was at the level of skill, intensity and intelligence of which they knew they were capable. From the opening faceoff (literally) until the Garden Ice House’s scoreboard showed P3 0:00 remaining, Landon won 1 v. 1’s, made smarter plays, remained structured in their positioning and maintained their composure.

The puck dropped and Ryan Giles won possession and fed it to his linemate Will Lawrence who blew by the Stags D, beat the DM goalie to take a lead @ 0:06 expired.

The next four minutes saw both teams fly up and down the ice. The home team put 15 SOGs, all but one of which were stopped by senior goaltender Ty Morton (game total saves 24). Most significantly he made a brilliant save on a DM breakaway at 9:01 expired. But for that denial, the Stags might have gained critical momentum. Ty stonewalled the opponents.

The visitors added to their lead @7:45 on a tremendous pass from Jordan Dinesman to JH Lages who put it in from the goal crease.

The fact that the Bears were unintimidated frustrated the higher ranked Stags.

A DM PP resulted in their 1^st goal at 13:29 and even that shot was tipped on the way to the Bears’ goal.

END OF 1^ST PERIOD BEARS 2 STAGS 1

The next six or so minutes was a battle with both teams carrying the pucks into their respective O zones. There was a scrum before the DM goal and the puck was controlled by Will Lawrence who put it into the back of the nets @8:34.

Indicative of the growing DM frustration, one of the Stag seniors received a game misconduct for a “racist slur”. Penalties dominated the remainder of the period.

Landon SOGs 12; Ty saves 10

END OF 2^ND PERIOD BEARS 3 STAGS 1

The Bears ran four lines for most of the game. There was no significant drop in performance among those twelve skaters. The two teams were playing 4 on 4 and Jordan Dinesman broke out of his D zone and flew into the O zone. His effort and speed resulted in the 4^th goal @3:23 expired.

The Bears gave up a goal to the Stags when the visitors committed a turnover close to the Landon goal. DM’s only equal strength at 7:20.

Once again, a great steal by Jordan D resulted in a goal @7:03 again on a breakaway.

The DM coach down by 3 decided to pull his goalie soon thereafter. The Bears were able to thwart the home team’s 6 on 5 effectively for minutes. Then an interference penalty on Landon created a 6 on 4 advantage and DM was able to convert the PP at 1:18.

The underdogs controlled the puck for much of the remaining 78 seconds. The referees then found a Stag to have cross-checked a Bear and the remaining time!!!

FINAL BEARS 5 STAGS 3

ONTO THE MAPHL SEMIFINALS AGAINST GONZAGA  ON THURSDAY @ Ft. DuPont @ 4:30pm